What can I give to help my cat's UTI?

Question

My cat was diagnosed with a UTI 1 week ago. He is still having accidents and now had diarrhea (assuming it is from the antibiotics). He is on the special food the vet recommends and also getting his litter box changed about every 2 days. The vet said to add some salt to his food to encourage him to drink more.......so I did. Does anyone have any suggestions before I bring him back to the vet and spend another $150?? Thanks

-Desprite to help my cat

My cat is 3 years old. It is the first problem I have ever had with him. I didn't switch the cat litter at all.....no changes in food lately.

I only added a small amount (what the vet recommended).

I am concerned cause I am also purchasing a house and will be moving in in 20 days and it has brand new light carpeting. I can't have my cat there if he is going to be making a mess on the carpet! I also can't afford him to get UTI's all the time either.

************I only added a small amount of salt (what the vet recommended).

Answer 1

It sounds like you are doing everything you can right now. How old is he. Is this a chronic problem or is this his first one. Also is he neutered? If he was, how old was he when he was neutered? I had a male cat that had infection after infection. He was in my mind too young when he was neutered. I talked to a few people that had the same problem with their male cats. I hate to say but I finally had to make him an out door cat. Also it could be related to the type of litter you are using. You might want to change it if he had another infection. Good luck. This can be a frustrating problem. Evita

Answer 2

Sounds like your doing everything you can. I like the persons idea of giving bottled water to prevent UTI's. The reason your vet advised adding salt was to make him drink more water. Sounds like a good idea. It is important that your cat drink lots of water to aid the healing. My cat prefers drinking water from the bath or basin or basically anywhere that is not in his bowl. Maybe you could put a little water in your bath or basin that your cat has easy access to. This is just to encourage him to drink more. If your still worried about your cat then call your vet. He might not need to see him and might give you advice over the phone. He might need more anibiotics the first course might not have been strong enough, but please tell your vet about the diarrhea he might prescribe a different antibiotic. Good luck!!! My kitten is also sick at the moment so i know exactly how worried you are. As far as moving and the new carpets are concerned i would strongly suggest purchasing a cat repellant (they really are not that expensive) and spray it on your carpets for a few days to prevent your cat getting into the habit of you know what. If your cat is refusing to use the litter box at the moment it could be that he is blaming the litter box for his sickness so it might be worth while getting a new litter box, that doesn't have any old smells etc attached to it. All the best!

Answer 3

I've read giving salt to cats is not good.
I've also read that male cats with that problem shouldn't really have dry food, but only wet food so they have higher moisture intake and it should be a special prescription. Always lots of fresh water available too.
You should be sure your vet is sure that your cat does not have a blockage going on, as the others said this becomes life threatening and can require surgery.
If it's not blockage, then maybe another antibiotic should be tried.
If you are using clumping/clay litter also try switching to non clumping ones(plain gravel, or crystals). But only after medical treatment. This does not sound like simply changing the litter, will solve the problem.
Be sure your vet is not more focused on cats, than dogs.
Maybe you need a new vet. This is an urgent problem for your poor cat.
Unfortunately vetrinary care is often expensive, but if you can affor a new house, you can afford to properly take care of your cat. Good luck.

Answer 4

My male cat had repeated UTI's and was diagnosed with having a blockage in his urinary tract. The vet did a surgery on him and it was drastic, they removed his male organ and reconstructed him, leaving a flat hole for him to pee out of so he would not get blocked again. This is for severe cases only.

I was told to never feed my cat dry cat food because of the taurine in it that causes urinary problems in males- I only give him canned food.

I occasionally need to give him antibiotics because after four years, he still gets an occasional infection.

Unfortunately, UTI's are very difficult in male cats. Be careful he does not get a blockage like my cat did- he would have died without that surgery.

Keep him on the urinary diet type of food. My cat loved to drink water from the sink, I would leave it on a trickle in the morning to get him to drink.

When you move to your new home, is there an area that does not have the light colored carpet- perhaps a room with tile where the cat could live?

The accidents he is having are probably because of the discomfort and burning sensation caused by the infection. Also- some cats will come to associate their litter box with pain when they have an infection and not want to use it.

Be patient with the little guy, he is having a hard time.
I hope he will not need surgery.

He may not be able to control himself and you might want to keep him in a special area where he can't ruin the carpet.

Good luck.

Answer 5

I used to have a cat that got UTI's every time she got stressed out. I moved a lot (job transfers) and every time a move was coming up, I swear that cat would get a UTI. She sensed it as soon as we found out. It happened every time. That might be the reason why your cat is having this problem since it is the first time this has occurred. My cat would soon calm down after the move but I can certainly understand your worrying about what he could do to your new carpeting.

Just try to give him as much love and attention as possible and make sure he gets his meds. Don't give up on him.

Good luck

Answer 6

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UTI can be brought about by stress. But they can also be brought about by the formation of crystals in the urine. If the crystals are struvite, acidification of the urine will solve that problem. But if they are oxalate, then dietary changes will be necessary. A urinary blockage in a male is a true medical emergency. And some of it can be genetic, due to a narrow urethra. Normally, the issue with fish is that they are high in phosphates. That is often an issue with kidney disease problems. As far as dry kibble, with a good source of water to encourage drinking, unless your cat is going to have a problem anyway, it usually is not the reason. That topic, however, is subject to a lot of dispute. I don't see a connection between the cat genie and the UTI, unless it could be stress related. Ask your vet about adding Cosequin. It is not prescription, and will strengthen the bladder wall.

Answer 7

Hi! I am assuming the vet gave you a high priced dry food to give him or a canned food that cost an arm and a leg.
Probably, to be honest both crap. I can guarantee the dry is.
Please go to this link and choose a wet food high protein and
under 10% carb and not fish. http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html
Then start adding some water to that food. A cat doesn't have a high thirst signal and can be dehydrated and still not drink They just don't get as thirsty as they should. Dry food gives a cat carbohydrates and a cat should not eat carbs. A cat is an obligate carnivore and doesn't have the ability to use the carbs. They live but not healthy as they could be.
If you have a UTI you are told to drink drink!! A cat needs this too. So adding water to the canned food gives more liquid. Dry leaves a cat with 5% liquid. Not good. LIke taking a teaspoon of water when you are thirsty.
Vet wet often has poor quality ingredients. Often the protein is from plant and veggies and a cat needs REAL meat protein. Muscle meat and not veggies and bisquits.
Please read this article and remember this DVM has spent her life working on people feeding a species appropriate diet to their cats. Yes she feeds raw but she advocates the good canned. You can choose Fancy Feast, Friskies etc that are NOT gravy - see that chart- or go with high quality such as Wellness or Merrick . http://catinfo.org/
This link will explain far better than me about good healthy diets.
I am not bashing Vets they get very little nutrition info in school and what they get is from the Pet food companies. Pet food companies get way more money in selling foods that are inferior than making good food. Dry is more money as they pay pennies for tons of this stuff. Wet is made with inferior products in many companies. Vets, while in school are often given free food for their pets and when they have a large office and lots of patients that they sell the food to they get up to 20% of their yearly earnings on this. They are misinformed as the public.
Please contact me if you want to know more.
The litter box should be scooped at least daily. My cat goes 6 times in 24 hours (urine) and 1 time BM and I scoop 7 times. Of course her box is in the bathroom so I see it and do it when I go in. But she comes and gets me if I don't happen to go in soon enough. I would be curious to know just what food you feed him normally and what the vet ordered.
After a week I would expect to see improvement. Did your vet do a Culture and see exactly what he is treating? If not I would ask for that and not just keep giving a med that is not working well. Give your boy some extra love. Oh pouring tuna juice on wet (if he isn't use to wet will often help him to eat it. Can mix some tuna in to get him going.)
Good luck UTI's are the pits.

Answer 8

I'm guessing the vet sold you a pricy bag of Science Diet dry food? LOL - those silly vets. If that's what he or she did, you might want to find someone better once you move because any vet who prescribes dry food for cats with UTI's doesn't know much about cat's nutritional needs.

Let the vet treat the condition medically - I have no quibble with them in that respect - but toss the food you were given and start feeding your cat canned food. Or if you're not quite ready to believe me, ask the vet if you can get that same food in a canned variety. It's still overpriced crap but it would be better than feeding dry food.

The reason is this - cats do not drink enough water. They are designed to get water IN their food - they are originally desert animals who wouldn't have access to water on a regular basis, and this is how they're meant to be hydrated.

So no matter how much salt you give your cat or how you present the water, it's not going to drink enough to keep its urine diluted.

And that is KEY to dealing with and preventing urinary issues.

See the linked article for more info, and see the What to feed link for suggestions on the better canned foods. The rule of thumb is if you can buy it at the grocery store, don't buy it.

Answer 9

If he's still having problems than the vet's initial treatment didn't fix the problem (not the vet's fault) and the cat needs to go back to vet.

You can feed Hill's Feline C/D which you should be able to get at your vet's- it's a dry food.

Don't overfeed canned food- a teaspoon or two is all a cat needs per feeding (2 X a day.)

Answer 10

Don't add salt, just put extra water in his food, or give him some extra water with a syringe. Give him the antibiotics for at least 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after the urine analysis shows that he is clear of the UTI, and give him teh special food, preferably canned and not dry, so that you can add extra water in it.